Well done Baku - you've managed another year of hosting a thrilling Formula 1 race. The race-long duel between Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri set the key narrative for this year's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but a wealth of action throughout the field all fought for second billing across the 51-lap race.
Of course, the stark differences in speeds between the Neftchilar Avenue 'straight' and the tight Old City section prompted much in the way of set-up compromise - and an ever-evolving track made it difficult for the teams to get their tyre preparations right. And, as we know, uncertainty is the key ingredient for an unpredictable race. An end-of-race crash, impressive rookie drivers, and alternate strategies all contributed to the cocktail.
And there was plenty more to get stuck into off-track, as the 2025 driver market slowly nears completion and the fallout of Adrian Newey's impending move to Aston Martin began to settle upon the paddock. Let's review the events in Baku, shall we?
1. Just how good Piastri can be in attack and defence
Oscar Piastri’s second Formula 1 career victory should, surely, one day be a contender for his best ever – a list that on this evidence will only grow. For the Baku race was so good overall and Charles Leclerc was on brilliant form and so hard to beat around a very tricky course, plus the eventual winner showed experience beyond his not even two years at the top level.
Piastri’s pass from way back on the approach to Turn 1 on lap 20 made the difference. He “completely ignored” engineer Tom Stallard’s advice not to make an early lunge on fragile new tyres basically immediately in his second stint. He then braked so late McLaren team boss Andrea Stella felt “my instinct was, ‘he's gonna go long’”. But Piastri not only didn’t slide deep, he pretty much nailed the perfect racing line over the left-hander’s apex kerb.
Then he soaked up 25 laps of intense pressure – mainly via his judgement to get good traction in the 90-degree turns of sector one allying with the McLaren’s strengths on traction, plus taking risks in the middle sector where Ferrari’s greater downforce level meant it was better – before Leclerc lost DRS. He’d destroyed his hards in what turned out to generally be a thermal degradation race that before the start many instead had feared would be an event decided by tyre surface graining.
Stella reckoned it all showed how Piastri “is always surprising us with talent, with his ability”.
“I would say, today, he gave also a demonstration of his mental strength,” Stella added. “He drove like a driver that has a lot of experience that has been under this kind of pressure before – that can look with one eye at the mirror, with the other eye at the braking point.
“Oscar did it again with a great level of precision and was pretty controlled. Even when he was talking on the radio, [he] seemed very much under control. Phenomenal driver, brilliant drive.”
Hear, hear.
2. Haas is already loving working with Bearman
Ollie Bearman now has a 100% record for points finishes from multiple F1 events in 2024 and has collected them for two teams, with Haas now following his Ferrari Jeddah appearance in place of the appendicitis-addled Carlos Sainz.
Bearman got to make an early debut with the team that he will race for full-time in 2025. Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu told Motorsport.com that overall Bearman’s weekend had been “not perfect, but pretty impressive”.
Bearman came within 0.128s of making Q3, only missing out due to Turns 11 and 12 slides on his final qualifying run. But he did outqualify vastly more experienced team-mate Nico Hulkenberg in his one-off here and bounced back from a sloppy FP3 crash.
In the race, Haas got its stint-one race-pace targets wrong for Bearman on the mediums and so Hulkenberg had to be waved by, before Bearman and Lewis Hamilton jumped the German in the aftermath of the Carlos Sainz/Sergio Perez crash right at race’s end.
But perhaps the most important element of Bearman’s weekend is how he quickly integrated himself with his new team.
He had some familiarity from six FP1 appearances in less than a year with Haas, but Motorsport.com sources at the team suggest Bearman’s quick learning and quiet, self-deprecating attitude have hit the right notes for a squad that hasn’t enjoyed the sort of lofty glory of the organisation where Bearman remains a junior, Ferrari.
It is understood the Scuderia will be paying the Briton’s wages next year, while Haas is also benefitting from his media-training slickness gleamed in its Academy.
3. F1 set for discussion on penalty points system review after Magnussen ban
Bearman’s second 2024 substitute appearance has been more controversial, as it followed Kevin Magnussen becoming the first F1 driver banned under the championship’s penalty licence points system regarding driving standards.
The Dane had support from many of his peers regarding the clash with Pierre Gasly at Monza that led to his suspension. Gasly even argued for Magnussen not to be banned and said he would vouch on his behalf to officials.
The topic was raised in the Baku drivers' briefing, where Gasly said he “asked them on moving forward because I think as a sport we never like to see someone penalised in that way and the view was that it was a bit harsh”. He said in response to his question, he found the FIA is “open on reviewing and moving forward, which is the most important”.
Motorsport.com understands that while not yet at the point of activating a full review into whether the penalty points system needs any alteration in the wake of Magnussen’s ban – something that would only happen at the end of each season in any case – steps towards this will be discussed in the off-season.
But even if a review is carried out, there may be little change to the system anyway.
Motorsport.com learned in Baku that post-Monza, the FIA analysed the average number of points issued per driver for all of 2024 and when cross-referenced with the number of times Magnussen had been the subject of stewards’ decisions this season, the drivers understood how the ban had ended up coming about.
4. How F1 weather systems work without key elements
A political dispute between the French and Azeri governments regarding tensions around the various interests in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict meant the Baku weekend took place without one of F1’s usual key systems working as usual.
This was the radar system that is usually deployed at the highest point of any circuit location to pinpoint weather systems traversing the areas and their surrounds. With the FIA’s official F1 weather partner - Meteo-France – forced to comply with travel advice issued by the French government not to travel to Azerbaijan, its staff that usually attend races and set up the radar at the highest point of any circuit location, plus four weather stations to monitor wind and ambient temperature, had to work remotely.
The FIA installed one weather station in the Baku pitlane on Meteo-France’s behalf, while the teams relied solely on the commercial weather radar services most use in addition to the Meteo-France supply at other events anyway.
Several teams had small numbers of French staff that could also not travel to Baku – the ban likely to invalidate certain insurance packages – but this is understood to not have included French-British squad, Alpine.
As one team principal quipped to Autosport about the lack of full weather coverage, the paddock adapted to working with “Meteo-Chance!”
5. Perez has still got it - in Baku, at least
Ever since Azerbaijan first appeared on the F1 calendar in 2016, Sergio Perez has been the most consistently impressive performer on the Baku City Circuit. Without a gearbox change, Perez would have started from the front row in that first season, no mean feat for a Force India driver at the time. He ended up on the podium anyway to finish third, and repeated the feat two years later.
Actually, it was easier before the weekend to name the Baku races where Perez hadn't finished on the podium: 2017 and 2019. He won the 2021 and 2023 editions, finished second in 2022, and completely outclassed Max Verstappen throughout the weekend this year as he appeared to recoup his mojo around the Azeri streets.
That it ended sandwiched between Carlos Sainz's Ferrari and the wall was perhaps not what Perez anticipated. Both drivers have their part to play in the incident, and waving it off as a 50/50 was the correct call, but it rather takes the shine away from what was a stellar afternoon for Perez. After all, he was well within the victory fight; Perez stood back and watched Leclerc and Piastri dice for the lead, always on hand to pick up the pieces.
Many myths about Perez have been dispelled of late: the 'tyre whisperer' mantle has seldom been seen versus Verstappen, and the 'street race specialist' tag has not been able to withstand a few prangs at Monaco. But the Baku mastery remains, despite the toil and trouble that the Mexican has endured throughout 2024.
6. Williams' Colapinto decision has already been vindicated
Williams choosing to replace Logan Sargeant was not much of a surprise, all told; choosing to promote Franco Colapinto from within undoubtedly was. Yet, it appears to have been something of a masterstroke, as the young Argentine has immediately impressed and quadrupled Sargeant's points tally after just two races with the team.
Colapinto carries himself with a wide-eyed astonishment that he's broken into F1's inner sanctum, defaulting to a graciousness towards the faith shown in him during interviews. The latest subject of his disbelief lay in Thursday's press conference, giddily noting from the sofa that the room was brimming with journalists compared to the empty-room sessions conducted in F2. And if Colapinto thinks that the press conference was full on Thursday (if anything, the room was half-empty), imagine how he'll feel in the event he's ever scheduled for a Monaco Grand Prix press session...
But behind the affability is a steely and determined racer, one prepared to cut it against F1's best. It looked for a time that Colapinto might miss out on points, as Nico Hulkenberg briefly peeled the Williams driver out of the top 10 - but the German's brush with the wall at Turn 15 set into motion a reversal in position. In the aftermath of the Perez/Sainz shunt, Colapinto was promoted to eighth for a four-point haul - one that helped Williams move past Alpine in the constructors' standings.
“I hope to be showing what I'm capable of and that I deserve a seat in Formula 1,” Colapinto suggested after the Azerbaijan race. “The idea and the opportunity that James gave me is helping me to show that.”
7. All teams comply with 2023 cost cap - but procedural breaches for manufacturers
Ever since Christian Horner donned a pair of thick-rimmed spectacles to deliver the news that Red Bull had surpassed the 2021 cost cap - the first of its kind – the fine and aero testing penalty levied upon the team has been enough to keep the teams in check during the past two financial audits. Either that, or accounting is simply becoming more creative...
Either way, 10 teams were found to be within compliance of the 2023 cost cap, and all power unit manufacturers were within the cost cap spend limits too - but there were procedural breaches for both Honda and Renault.
Restrictions upon the power unit manufacturers were introduced in 2023 for the first time in accordance with development for the 2026 engine formula. Once the two manufacturers sign their accepted breach agreements, the scope of the penalties - which is expected to be minor - will become known.
Aston Martin was forced to pay $450k for a procedural breach of 2021's cost cap rules, with incorrectly excluded or incorrectly adjusted costs involved with its factory build. Williams received a $25k fine for that year due to a late submission of an interim financial report. No breaches were reported for the 2022 cost cap.
That Renault has triggered a procedural breach is of note, given the manufacturer is set to pull the plug on its 2026 power unit development and link up with Mercedes on a customer basis.
